


paint me a blue sky

by icepools



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Depression, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tenderness, soooo so tender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26907058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icepools/pseuds/icepools
Summary: Sometimes Will Byers has bad days.He has days where he is not happy, nor content, nor somewhere in between. The bad days are the lowest of the low. He can’t really smile, not comfortably. He stays in bed, skips school if he has it. On the very worst of days he can’t even talk. Bad days do not turn into okay days.Today is a bad day.or: will has days that are better than others. for those days that hurt just a little more, he has lucas.
Relationships: Will Byers/Lucas Sinclair
Kudos: 11





	paint me a blue sky

**Author's Note:**

> lil heads up this fic is very fluffy and nice but it does have a slightly heavy subject matter? nothing too crazy but it is. a depression fic so do with that what you will !!!

Will Byers has good days.

He has days where he feels happy. His friends are with him, or sometimes they’re not and it’s just him at home. He laughs and smiles, or maybe he doesn’t, but he smiles on the inside. Everything goes well on the good days.

Will Byers has okay days, too, and those are more common.

He has days where he is okay. He could be happy, or just content, maybe somewhere in between or somewhere a little low. He can genuinely smile just fine on okay days. Being with his friends makes okay days a little better and being with his boyfriend makes okay days good days.

Sometimes, though.

Sometimes Will Byers has bad days.

He has days where he is not happy, nor content, nor somewhere in between. The bad days are the lowest of the low. He can’t _really_ smile, not comfortably. He stays in bed, skips school if he has it. On the very worst of days he can’t even talk. Bad days do not turn into okay days.

Today is a bad day.

It’s a Friday. Will had a test in math today that he was confident in taking. He had Dustin (the party’s self-proclaimed “math whiz”) help him figure out the things he was struggling with last night.

Last night. Yesterday. Yesterday was a good day. Will curls into himself a little more.

Now he doesn’t get to take the test. He hopes his teacher understands. (She won’t, because why would she?)

When his mom came into his room to wake him up and realized what kind of day today was going to be, she seemed sad. Will knows she was trying to hide it for his sake, but he could tell. He saw the immediate but subtle drop in her expression when she saw him curled up in a tiny ball, right half of his face shoved deep into his pillow, shaking slightly.

Will sees a lot of things on bad days. When you lose the motivation to breathe, you can’t do much other than observe. 

Joyce is gentle when she takes care of Will. She knows just what he needs and doesn’t force him into any of it. Water, another blanket - no, too hot, take that blanket away and turn on the fan. Too cold now, put the blanket back on.

Will feels sick with guilt the whole time. Every time he sees her kind face he wants to jump off the face of the earth so his poor mother doesn’t have to deal with his stupid brain. 

And he knows he’s supposed to work on that; letting people help him. His therapist tells him that all the time. He tries, too. He really tries to understand that Joyce is happy to take care of him, that she’s the one who decided to take the morning off to help him.

But he just...can’t accept it. It doesn’t make sense. 

_Why._ Why why why.

Joyce has to leave for work around noon. As much as she’d apparently love to stay at home and take care of her needy son for the next two hours, she’s got to go. So she says goodbye to Will and he waves because his tongue still feels heavy and numb and useless even though he’s been awake for five hours.

His mom gives him a list of things he can do while he waits. Watch a movie. Bathe. Eat. Sleep. Make his bed.

The thought of doing any of that makes his stomach hurt so he lays down on his tangled bed in silence with his dirty hair and empty stomach and tired eyes and sits and stares and waits.

He must fall asleep at some point though, because he wakes up to the sound of the front door opening. Will panics for a second before he looks over at his clock. **2:42PM.** He knows who’s at the door, now. Thank god they have a key, because no part of Will would’ve wanted to get up and open the door for them.

He rubs at his eyes while he waits for his visitor to come into his room. There’s some clinking coming from the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Lucas, sweet sweet Lucas walks through his bedroom door, holding a fresh glass of water and some papers. They have a small smile on their face that grows when they see Will. Will can’t see why—he probably looks like shit right now.

“Hey, Will,” they speak quietly and gently, probably not wanting to stimulate him too much. “Is it a bad day?”

Will opens his mouth to answer before he remembers that he can’t. Not today. He shuts his mouth quickly and nods. The action makes Lucas frown and they set the papers on his desk.

“ _That_ kinda day, huh?” they say. They’re talking even quieter now. Will nods again.

Lucas walks into the room, surveying the scene. Will’s skin crawls as he imagines what Lucas thinks of his current state.

“Can I sit on the bed?” they ask finally. Will only hesitates for a second before he nods. It makes Lucas smile again and they slowly lower themselves onto the bed after putting the glass of water next to the other one (still full) on Will’s bedside table.

“Okay. D’you wanna go over what I can do today?” Lucas asks. They’re sitting very still, keeping all their limbs to themself. Will nods at their question.

“Okay, alright, let’s see...can I touch you?”

Will shakes his head and his face burns at the admission. He wants Lucas to touch him. Wants them to hold him and kiss his face and his hair and squeeze him tight. But his stomach churns thinking about it.

“That’s alright. Do you want me to talk a lot?”

Will nods at this one. He loves Lucas’ voice.

Lucas smiles at him, something soft and loving. Will can’t quite meet their gaze.

“What else...oh! Let’s go over the names for today, yeah? What’ve we got, uh, alright, is baby okay today?”

Will shakes his head no.

“Okay. Sweetheart?”

Another no. Will is starting to frown a bit, feeling guilty.

“That’s fine, Will, totally okay. I’ll do whatever you’re good with, no complaints, okay?” A nod. “Now, what are my other ones...can I assume if baby’s a no then baby boy is too?”

Will nods.

“Alright, all good. Anything else with boy in it? Pretty boy? That’s a nice one,”

Will pauses at this one. Maybe it’ll be nice. He sticks out a hand and shakes it a little: _maybe._

Lucas nods. The smile doesn’t leave their face. “Do you want me to try it?”

Will nods again, feeling a little useless now.

“You’re doing so well, pretty boy. So proud of you.”

The praise is nice but the nickname feels condescending today. Will shakes his head.

“That’s fine. Thank you for giving it a shot. Now, what else...how does bug sound?”

Will nods a yes at this one. It’s surprising no one, really, bug has always been his favourite.

Lucas’ soft smile breaks into a full grin. Will’s heart starts to sing at the obvious praise.

“Perfect. Bug it is. Now, one more question, then I promise we’re done. Do you want to do anything right now?”

  
Not really. There’s some stuff he _should_ do, but he doesn’t have the energy for that right now. So Will shakes his head no, but he reaches over and grabs the list Joyce gave him, then hands it to Lucas. (He’s also just realized the list was more for Lucas than him.)  
  


“Oh, great. We can worry about this later, yeah? For now we can just sit, and I can tell you about school? Then you can let me know what’s first on the agenda when you’re ready. How’s that sound?”

Will nods and Lucas smiles again. They move over on the bed and lay down next to Will, leaving plenty of space between them but clearly giving Will the option to come closer if he wants to. Lucas gives him a soft little look, then starts to talk about their day at school. Will stares at their hands as they move.

He doesn’t deserve them. 

No. Yes he does. Stop that.

Will doesn’t move much while Lucas talks. He shifts a few times, but mostly he just tries to listen to them talk. Truth be told, he doesn’t absorb all of it, but from what he does, he gathers that everyone missed him very much and they hope he’s better tomorrow. Dustin informed Lucas that their math teacher was more than happy to let Will take the test on Monday, too. The papers Lucas put on his desk are from their shared history class. Lucas says that if he’s up for it they can work on them together later.

Lucas leans in, just slightly, and tells him that school is _incredibly_ boring without him. Will feels a strange mixture of love and guilt.

Eventually, Lucas’ stories slow down a bit. Only so much can happen in six hours. Around the same time, Will starts coming back to himself, just a little. His brain is screaming at him to stay put, to lie here forever until he dies, but his body is screaming at him to use the bathroom and clean his stupidly gross hair. So he reaches over and picks up the sort of to-do list from next to Lucas' thigh.

They don’t say anything just yet. Their story comes to a full stop and they wait patiently as Will looks over the list. Finally, he points to the second thing Joyce wrote. Lucas smiles at him and gently takes the piece of paper from his hand.

“Yeah? What do you want? A shower? No, that’s probably a bad idea. I’ll run you a bath, yeah?”

A bath. A bath sounds nice. Will nods, staring at his mom’s handwriting on the paper. 

“Alright. I’ll go get it started then I’ll grab you, okay?” Lucas offers, already standing to fill up the tub in Will and El’s shared bathroom.

Will just nods and looks at his hands. Lucas smiles and leaves the room. After a few minutes, Will hears the tap running loudly.

The bath will be full soon. And then Lucas will come and take Will to get cleaned. 

Will wants to do something good today. Wants to give Lucas a reason to be proud of him. 

It takes him a minute of staring at the door, sort of freaking out, but he finally manages to force himself out of the bed. His feet hit the floor and he takes a second to collect himself. 

He can do this. Lucas is in there, ready to help him. And they’re allowed to do that. Will can go straight back to the bed if he needs to and Lucas will take him into the bathroom on their own.

Will stands from the bed, legs shaking slightly. 

He can turn back at any time. 

He starts to walk out of his bedroom, slowly and carefully. He watches his feet as he moves, breathing in and out with each step.

Lucas won’t hate him if he decides to turn around.

He’s out of the bedroom now. The bathroom is just down the hall.

Will hears the water from the bathroom stop. Lucas will be checking the temperature now.

He stops in front of the open bathroom door just as Lucas looks up.

“Oh! Hey, bug. Didn’t hear you coming over. You ready?”

Will thinks that if he weren’t having a bad day, he’d be smiling. Lucas is so perfect. Not focusing on the feat, just focusing on his presence.

Will nods at their question and looks down at his clothes. They’re quite wrinkled.

Lucas notices this and follows his gaze. “You need help? Or do you want me to look away?”

Will holds up two fingers, indicating his choice of the second option. He doesn’t think he can handle Lucas’ gaze on his naked body today. Besides, he thinks he can handle taking off his own clothes.

“Alright. I’ll help you get in when you’re ready, okay?”

And with that, Lucas turns around.

Will strips slowly, trying not to look at his body that he knows will make him sick and instead stares at the bath Lucas made. It smells like vanilla. He’s not sure what they put in there, but the scent is nice.

He blinks at it for a while. He can probably get in on his own, right? Can he do that?

Time to find out, apparently, because before he even knows what he’s doing Will is lifting one foot into the water and holding himself steady with his hands on the edge of the tub.

He hears Lucas behind him in a second. Not touching him, because they don’t have the permission yet, but hands hovering above his back as he lifts the second leg in.

“Easy, easy, careful. You got it.”

Will sits down comfortably enough in the bathroom without needing Lucas to touch him, which makes him feel sort of accomplished. Lucas seems proud, anyway.

“Okay, bug, now we’ve gotta get you clean. Do you wanna do the washing up or is it okay if I do it?” Lucas asks gently, closing the lid of the toilet and sitting on it.

Will hesitates for a moment. He’s not sure if he’s ready to be touched but _god_ Lucas washing his hair and his skin sounds like the best thing in the world. So he points at his boyfriend and they grin widely.

“ _Awesome._ I’ll start with your hair and then we’ll get your body and face and stuff, yeah? Then maybe I can read to you? I saw your book on the table, I can go grab it in a bit,” Lucas says, then reaches behind Will to grab a bottle of shampoo. Will notices that it’s the fancier one that smells like coconut (his normal one smells like _fresh,_ whatever that means). Will knows Lucas likes how this one smells. Hopefully they can smell it in his hair later, if he’s up for it.

“Ready?” Will turns to Lucas to see them patiently waiting, rolling the shampoo bottle in their hands. 

He nods, and they smile.

The process of getting Will clean is silent, for the most part. Lucas starts humming a song (Will thinks it might be an old love song from the sixties) after they start washing his hair, though, and that’s nice.

Will never knew how nice getting your hair washed could be. He always does it himself, and that’s just a short part of his day. He doesn’t, like, spend time making it nice. 

But Lucas is.

They’re taking their time as they massage the shampoo into his scalp, running their fingers through the ends of his hair gently. 

Will didn’t...know it could feel this way. Being taken care of.

Because it doesn’t feel like Lucas is _forcing_ him to let them do everything for him. They’ve asked for permission before every action, making sure that it’s okay for them to continue helping. If Will decided that he wanted to wash his own hair and body, Lucas would hand off the shampoo bottle and sit back while he did it.

Lucas isn’t forcing, they’re...offering. And they’re willing. And they seem very happy to do so.

And Will is very happy to let them.

They rinse Will’s hair gently, still massaging his head a little. Will’s eyes start to close on their own accord, not out of fatigue, but—bliss.

He hears Lucas squeezing some body wash onto a washcloth (he didn’t even know those were still a thing, he associates them with, like, the 1700s) and looks over at them. They seem to be waiting for his permission, so he nods. It earns him a smile as they take Will’s left arm in their hand and begin gently rubbing the cloth back and forth across his skin. He watches as the soap bubbles start to form.

This is...nice. Really nice. 

Shit, maybe he should be depressed more often.

(Will laughs a little internally. He’ll have to tell Lucas about that little thought when he can talk again.)

Lucas hands Will the washcloth so he can clean in between his legs, because they know that’s definitely a hands-off area right now without having to ask.

As Will gently scrubs at the inside of his thighs, he realizes that this was mostly comforting because it was Lucas. He just feels like he’s washing his body. But when Lucas was doing it, it felt like the most warming and comforting experience he’d ever had.

That’s just what Lucas does, though, so he’s not surprised one bit.

Lucas deems him acceptable after another once over with the washcloth. They rinse him off quickly, then give his hair a quick squeeze to get rid of all the extra water. They rumple it up a bit, too, because they know it dries better like that.

“There we go. All washed up. Can I go get your book now?”

_Yes._ This is the part Will was looking forward to. Lucas’ voice is so nice. Will nods quickly and Lucas smiles.

“Perfect. I’ll be back in a minute.”

And then Will is alone.

He stares at the toilet next to him, where Lucas was just a few seconds ago.

He thinks it’s kind of insane that they’re so willing to do this. Help him. Be there for him. When they first started dating, and Lucas’ (and Will’s, in some cases) responsibilities changed, Will was sure they were going to leave. To change their mind, say _actually, no, you’re a pain in the ass, goodbye._

But they’ve stayed. The whole time.

(Will isn’t sure why it’s so shocking, really; if the roles were reversed, Will would never leave Lucas’ side.)

They come back just a minute after Will’s thoughts cease, book in hand. _M is for Magic_ by Neil Gaiman. Will loves this book for two reasons: one, come on, it’s Neil Gaiman. Two, he has a very _very_ small attention span, so getting a fresh story roughly every twenty-five pages is perfect for him.

“You ready?” Lucas asks. They sit down on the toilet seat again (Will’s shoulders visibly relax from their return) and open the book to Will’s bookmark. 

Will nods, and Lucas smiles and opens their mouth.

“ _October was in the chair, so it was chilly that evening…_ ”

Will must zone out after that. (Which sucks, he always liked that story.) Before he knows it, Lucas is closing the book and emptying the tub. Probably for the best, Will’s feet look a little red.

Lucas helps him dry off, but he can see that their eyes are closed. Thank God for Lucas Sinclair.  
  


They get him into some clean but comfortable clothes. The shirt is definitely Lucas’. It wraps Will up in a warmth and safety only Lucas can provide him.

The rest of their time in the bathroom includes some face washing and teeth brushing, both of which make Will feel a bit better. Lucas lets him do those things on his own.

(It also includes some toilet use, but Lucas waits outside the bathroom door for that one.)

When Will exits the bathroom, Lucas leads him back into his bedroom where they sit him down on the bed and start rumpling up Will’s hair a bit. He doesn’t mind.

“Do you want me to dry it?” It doesn’t feel very wet, so Will isn’t sure if Lucas _could_ dry it, but he shakes his head. He likes it—

“Good. I like it when it goes all fluffy and wavy.”

Under different circumstances, Will would blush and smile and plant a firm little kiss on Lucas’ face.

Lucas motions for Will to stand up and he does. He watches, slightly guilty, as Lucas makes his bed. They do it in the way Will likes, too, with a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals at the top.

“Sit down? I’m gonna put on a movie,”

Will does as he’s told and watches Lucas grab their laptop from their backpack. While he waits, he looks around the room and his eyes land on the two glasses of water on his table. The scratchiness in his throat begins to be too much to bear, he grabs what he hopes is the newer one and takes a very small sip.

He catches Lucas smiling at him as they find the movie they’re looking for, and that makes him feel nice.

“Alright, before we start, you need anything? Food? More water? Shit, no, that’s plenty of water, are you—?”

Will shakes his head. He’s ready.

Lucas nods and sits down next to him, setting their laptop on the bed and hitting play.

The screen briefly shows the 20th Century Fox logo, before shifting to a black screen with blue text. Will knows exactly what’s coming next.

_The Princess Bride._

Will looks behind him at the poster framed above his bed. The same logo that was just on the screen sits right at the bottom of the poster.

Lucas follows his gaze and grins. “Thought you’d like it.”

Like it. _Like it!_ This is only Will’s favourite movie of _all time._

_Like it…_

Will nods enthusiastically, hoping Lucas can sense the underlying thanks in it.

They do. They look at him for a second, smile, and whisper, “You’re welcome, buggy.”

After only five minutes of watching the film, Will looks over at Lucas. They’ve left a considerable amount of space between them, much like earlier today, and their hands are placed firmly in their lap. No accidental brushing here, folks.

Except—Will wants to be touched. Just a little, nothing crazy, he wouldn’t be able to handle, like, a kiss, but he could do with some hand holding, maybe some touching legs.

So he scoots himself over until his right thigh is flush with Lucas’ left. They blink at him, watching his every move. He slowly reaches over and grabs both of Lucas’ hands. He takes the right hand into his own right hand and delicately interlocks their fingers. Will then takes Lucas’ left hand and guides it to his hair, now completely dry and fluffy—just how they like it.

Lucas lets out a soft chuckle at Will’s actions, but strokes his hand with their thumb and cards their other hand through his wavy hair. Their multitasking skills are incredible, really.

“This is all okay then?” they ask quietly. Will forces himself to tear his eyes away from their joined hands and instead look directly at Lucas. He nods slowly. “Okay, bug. If you wanna stop, or get a little closer you do that, right? I’m happy with whatever you want to do.”

God. They’re so perfect. Will squeezes their hand in response, glad that he has something else to communicate with.

He lasts about an hour before he needs more. There’s only one way they can get closer without, like, kissing or something. Can he do it? Will’s not sure. He’s been doing great this past hour, but that was just some hand holding and thigh touching. This is—

Before he can second guess himself, he adjusts Lucas’ arm so it’s wrapped around his shoulders, and shimmies closer to Lucas’ body. He eventually curls into their side, knees resting on top of their thighs. It takes him another moment, but he slowly lowers his head onto their shoulder.

And Lucas doesn’t even flinch, doesn’t ask if it’s okay, just starts playing with his hair again. Will appreciates this deeply. He seems to be getting out of the worst of his funk, judging by how close they are right now. When he gets to this point, the loving babying starts to feel less considerate and more condescending. Lucas knows that he’ll stop if he wants to.

The only issue with this position is how utterly _relaxing_ it is. Will makes it ten minutes before his eyelids start drooping slightly. There’s only about fifteen minutes left in the movie, and that includes the credits at the end. He doesn’t want to miss any of it.

But he’s tired. So, so tired. 

Lucas seems to notice after a couple minutes. They look down at his half-lidded eyes and quickly pause the film with their foot. Subconsciously, Will succumbs to his fatigue just a little more. 

“You tired, bug?” Lucas asks softly, voice just above a whisper. They’ve started stroking his hair gently, rather than running their hands through it. Will slowly nods against their shoulder. He can barely keep his eyes open now. The hardships of the day have finally gotten to him.

“Go to sleep, Will. I’ll still be here when you wake up, and then we can finish the movie and the list and stuff. But for now, you need to rest. God knows you’ve earned it.”

Will feels his eyes fall shut. He thinks he nods, maybe he even makes a little noise of understanding, he’s not sure. All he can register is Lucas pulling him closer, moulding him to the shape of their body.

Will falls asleep, and he feels the closest to okay he’s felt all day.

* * *

Will wakes up the next morning to something stroking his eyebrow. Based on the way his face is being held, he assumes it’s probably Lucas, although it could also be his mom.

Instead of opening his eyes, he shoved his face deeper into his pillow. He’s still tired from his bad day yesterday.

After Will’s nap, he and Lucas finished _The Princess Bride._ Afterwards, they had dinner with Joyce, who had gotten home shortly after the movie ended. Joyce had been happy to see Lucas, and they filled her in on everything that happened that day.

They didn’t do much else. The three of them watched some _Friends_ together, because it was the show they collectively decided would be easiest for Will to watch. Mindless, solidly amusing 90s TV. Afterwards, Lucas helped Will get ready for bed, and as he laid in bed they did the same. He fell asleep for the second time that day with Lucas’ arm around his waist.

The rubbing on his eyebrow continues, and the warm feeling it gives Will surprises him. It seems like such a strange thing to do.

“Good morning, bug,” 

Oh. So it is Lucas then. That makes Will smile. 

_Wait._

_Oh,_ fuck _yes—_

“Morning.” Will says back. His voice is rough and scratchy and thick, definitely from lack of use for an entire day. But it’s his _voice._

Will finally pries his eyes open to see Lucas grinning widely at him. He shoves the entire bottom half of his face into the pillow, attempting to hide his smile but he knows Lucas has already seen it.

“Welcome back, love.” They discussed this pet name a while ago. Will said that it was _always_ nice after a bad day, no exceptions. So _love_ is their always safe choice.

“So,” Lucas continues, when they don’t get a reply, “what’s the status report today?”

Will smiles at the terminology. “Okay, I think. Closer to bad but okay.” He has a little feeling that the _closer to bad_ thing will fade pretty quickly, judging by the massive grin on his face.

Lucas nods slowly, ceasing their stroking of Will’s eyebrow. They opt for his cheek instead.

“You wanna tell me how you’re feeling about boundaries today?”

Will hums in response, finally lifting his head from the pillow so Lucas can see his whole face. He doesn’t miss how their eyes light up at the sight.

“Um,” he starts, trying to remember what Lucas asked him yesterday, “You can touch me. Like, anything. And any nickname is okay. Can I tell you if I change my mind on one, though?”

Lucas smiles like that’s the stupidest question they’ve ever heard. “Of course, baby.”

Will’s cheeks redden for no apparent reason. He’s just always liked that one.

“And you, uh, don’t have to ask permission for stuff. I’ll tell you if I don’t want it,”

Lucas nods quickly, smile never fading. “And how do you feel about kisses?”

Will does his best to suppress a grin. “No mouth?”

“Oh, that’s alright. I’ll just get you here,” Lucas leans forward and presses a loud kiss to the centre of his forehead, “and here,” another to his left cheek, “here,” a kiss to his right cheek, “ _here,_ ” a particularly long kiss to the tip of his nose, “and here.” Another kiss on his jaw. And then another on his temple, and one on the space between his eyebrows, and and and.

Will is giggling wildly by the end of it, when Lucas kisses his nose once more, long and hard. They pull away, a stupid, lazy, dreamy smile on their face. “Any updates on that status?”

Will giggles again, too far in it now to even think of holding it back. “Better.”

“Good,” Lucas says gently, then presses one final kiss to his pulse point, just below his ear. “What d’you wanna do today?”

Will thinks this over for a minute. He may be okay mentally, but his body went through hell yesterday and needs some time off. “I don’t know. Maybe watch a movie? Go for a walk in town? Just be with you. Only you.”

Will can physically _see_ how Lucas melts, burying their head in the crook of his neck. He tilts his head downwards to kiss their cheek softly. 

“And…” Lucas starts, kissing his neck just because they can, “yesterday? Can we talk about that?”

“Mhm,”

“Was everything I did okay?”

Will exhales a little through his nose, reminiscent of a laugh, and turns his body so it’s facing Lucas. He puts a hand on the back of their head and pulls them in even closer. “More than. You started to loosen up a bit near the end and that was good, ‘cause I was starting to feel a little more me. So that was good. And I liked you washing my hair,”

Will feels Lucas grin against his neck. “Yeah? I liked it too,”

“Good, ‘cause I think I’m gonna have you do that every time I need a shower.”

Lucas laughs, loud and clear, and pulls Will even closer. “ _God,_ I missed you.”

Will frowns a little, the guilt from yesterday returning a little. It’s not even what Lucas said, it’s just…

“Lucas?” he says softly. Lucas seems to immediately sense his mood shift because they sit up a little and look him in the eyes.

“Yeah?”

_I’m sorry._

_You shouldn’t have to put up with me when I’m like that._

_You deserve better._

_I’m a burden, aren’t I?_

“Thank you.”

Lucas, because they’re Lucas, can clearly see that _thank you_ is not what Will really wants to say. Luckily, they do see what he wants to hear.

“No thanks necessary, bug. I’m here for the long run, remember? Bad days and good days and all the ones in between. Always.”

They stick their pinky out, and Will is quick to link his with theirs.

“You hear me?” they whisper, holding tightly onto his pinky finger.

Will inhales slowly and nods.

“I hear you.”

Lucas smiles at him, something warm and loving, and sits up slowly. 

“Good. Let’s get up now, huh? I think Joyce is making breakfast. _God_ I could go for some of her pancakes right now. You have to learn the recipe for when we move in together, and I swear to god you’re making them every morning.”

Lucas doesn’t stop talking as they get up off the bed and start digging around their bag for the clothes they packed for today. For a while, Will just stares.

Finally, Lucas looks over at him, jeans undone and shirt halfway over their body. “You coming?”

Will nods slowly. Lucas just smiles at him and continues getting dressed.

Will sits up and looks down at the ground. It seems a lot closer than it did yesterday.

He swings his feet over the bed, onto the floor, and gets up.


End file.
